1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to apparatus and method whereby a camera mounted in an LED streetlight is enabled to monitor a field of view and report what is observed. In a preferred embodiment, a fixed camera and/or a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera is used, and it is remotely controlled by, and communicates image(s) and/or reports to, a remote control center via one or more of wireless (e.g., WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, satellite, etc.) and/or land-line (e.g., coaxial cable, Ethernet, etc.) modalities. Preferably, the camera is not visible from the area monitored.
2. Background Art.
Street lights are found all over the world. They are used to light public roads, paths, and areas during night time, and to provide safety to the citizens and visitors of such areas. Cameras may be installed in such street lights to view the areas below the streetlight, thus providing security to the public and providing police visual monitoring capabilities. The video and/or still images are typically uploaded to one or more monitoring servers via wireless and/or land-line. Where a PTZ camera is used, the camera motions and image-capture can be controlled via the same or different servers via the wireless and/or land-line connection.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,886,738 discloses a PTZ camera installed in a street light. However, the heat-generating Halogen bulb 673 (FIG. 6B) is located adjacent the camera 650, thus requiring a fan 687 to cool the equipment. Even with the fan, overheating of the camera and light components is a problem.
As another example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0141727 discloses a street light having a camera module 2230 surrounded by lamp bulb modules 2220 (FIG. 3A, 3B). Beside the overheating problems engendered by such a design, the light from the lamp bulbs will likely enter onto the camera module, resulting in improperly-exposed video/pictures.
Thus, what is needed is an efficient street lamp/camera design which overcomes the problems of the known art, and provides a safe, cost-efficient design.